Thiruvananthapuram: Lauding the pivotal role being played by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in addressing the infrastructure deficit being faced by the State, Pinarayi Vijayan, State Chief Minister, said here the other day that the government would allocate Rs. 40,000 crore to KIIFB this year to take a number of key infrastructure development projects forward.

“In its first two budgets, the government had already allotted Rs. 50,000 crore for KIIFB towards various projects. Of these, KIIFB has already submitted an estimated Rs. 2,612-crore worth of project proposals. All the doubts about the initiative that were raised during its initial stages have now been laid to rest,” Vijayan said. He was inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Public Infrastructure Financing’ organised by KIIFB.

The high-profile summit brought together top policy-makers, representatives of financial sector regulatory bodies, senior bank officials, merchant bankers and senior government officials in charge of public financial institutions and development corporations. “KIIFB is a public welfare model that has been put forward as an alternative to new economic reforms that tends to privatise even basic development projects. Under KIIFB’s aegis, several infrastructural development projects crucial to Kerala’s growth are in progress. For example, various electricity harnessing projects estimated at Rs. 5,200 crore that will help find a solution to Kerala’s energy crisis,” Vijayan said.

Other ongoing vital funding through KIIFB include Rs. 1,781 crore towards PWD works, Rs. 272 crore for proposed light metro rail, Rs. 1,700 crore for the industrial sector, Rs. 351 crore for the IT sector, Rs. 1,690 crore for water resources department, Rs. 968 crore for health and family welfare, Rs. 678 crore for education, Rs. 74 crore for pre-metric hostel, Rs. 45 crore for working women hostel, among others. “The projects currently in progress can be completed within four years only if we plan and execute according to the laws, regulations and scope of the investment funding sector,” he added.